By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Overton Power District Board of Directors approved a 2 percent salary increase for general manager Mendis Cooper retroactive to January of this year during a meeting held on Wednesday last week in Overton.
Mesquite Board member Jim Pugh, who sat on a committee that reviewed the proposed increase, said that he used a format provided by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in preparing the recommendation. The format includes a number of guidelines by which to evaluate a general manager, based on performance in certain key areas, Pugh said. With that evaluation, the decision was made to recommend that the board go forward with the raise and contract, Pugh said.
“We found that his (Cooper’s) pay is also well below the lowest quartile for any General Manager in the region, state or nation,” Pugh added. “Based on that I’m proposing this modest increase and to get him a contract for three years to maintain continuity of management.”
Board chairman Larry Moses pointed out that the board had also cut staffing at the OPD in the past year which has saved over $400,000 in salaries over the next two years; even with the proposed increase. By contrast the proposed general manager salary increase would have a total annual fiscal impact to the district of $3,561, Moses said.
The board also approved a raise for OPD foremen and linemen. In that proposal, these employees would receive raises of $1 per hour retroactive to January 2014, another $1 per hour effective July 1, and another $1 per hour on January 1, 2015. The total cost of this proposal to the district was projected at $38,494 for 2014 and $73,022 for 2015.
During public comment, Mesquite resident and candidate for OPD Board seat, David Ballweg, complained that the board’s background documents, containing a comparison of OPD employees to other similar regional entities, did not include Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) payments.
“When you just list salaries that are arbitrary to other entities, it doesn’t give you the big picture,” Ballweg said.
OPD Assistant General Manager Terry Romero explained that the district had included straight salary numbers without benefits, on the comparison documents because there were variations in how each entity paid benefits. For example, OPD employees contribute to PERS which opts them out of contributing to Social Security. Thus the cost to the district that would normally be paid into Social Security for its employees is instead transferred to PERS. These differences make it difficult to compare benefits between companies.
“So our numbers in the comparison just included hourly wages, not benefits,” Romero explained. “And the other entities (included in the comparison) also didn’t include benefits.”
“So it’s just apples to apples then,” confirmed Pugh.
Pugh emphasized that his committee had considered all of the benefit components including PERS, Medicare and other things in the current proposal.
“We did look at everything in very much detail,” Pugh said. “All of the components and the money that we are saving already. I thought that we did a very good comparison.”
Board member Mike Wilson said that he felt the raises were important to retain qualified employees at the district. He pointed out that it takes the district 8-10 years to train and certify a lineman to perform his duties safely. With that type of investment, the district needs to make every reasonable effort to retain its own employees over time, he said.
“I’d rather spend a dollar or two more per employee and keep quality people here,” Wilson said. “We are looking at the fact that we have had 6 years and 7 months without a lost time accident. That kind of safety record is unheard of in our industry. And here we are bickering about a dollar or two. We need to attract and keep the best employees we can.”
During the final public comment period, Ballweg said that he felt it is generally bad policy to respond to threats from employees that say they will go elsewhere if they don’t get a raise.
“At my own manufacturing plant we had no lost time accidents in 20 years so I understand that,” Ballweg said. “But my policy has always been if an employee comes in to me and says I need a raise or I’m going to quit, I always ask them for their last day.”
Moses said that, to his knowledge, no threats had been made by employees that they would quit if they did not receive a raise.
“It’s prudent of this board to say that these are employees that have done a good job for us,” Moses said. “We are below what other people are paying for the same position. We don’t want to lose our employees. So it behooves us to reward and keep good workers. I wish we could compensate them more.”
The board voted unanimously to approve both salary increase proposals.
